Selkirk’s hopes of building on an encouraging start to the season at Kelso ran into the formidable figure of Steven Broom at St Boswells on May 10th and it was the visiting Souters who had the worse of the exchanges.

Paterson won the toss and asked the home side to bat first. McIlroy and Young began steadily and constructed a solid opening partnership of 54 before the former was trapped LBW by Oliver. That brought Broom to the wicket and the Selkirk attack was made to suffer as he plundered 116 from just 80 deliveries, biffing three sixes and 13 fours along the way. Young provided measured support before he was stumped off the bowling of Reid for 55.

For the Selkirk bowlers, Wilkinson’s figures were the pick, his ten overs going for just 3.5 runs each and he picked up two late wickets too.

Nor, alas, were Selkirk able to avoid Broom once they took their turn to bat as the powerful all-rounder opened the bowling with Turnbull. With the score on 23 Michael Fenton fell to Turnbull and 12 runs later Banks, who included Selkirk’s only three boundaries in his 17, became the first of Broom’s four victims. Greg Fenton fell next and Selkirk had slumped to 35/3.

The scorebook, alas for those of a Selkirk persuasion, cannot lie and lays out in pitiless, unemotional detail what happened next: Wilkinson, Paterson and Reid each fell with the score on 44 and a difficult position had become a desperate one, leaving the Selkirk innings shipwrecked on 44/6.

Everitt, making his season’s debut, compiled a watchful 20 but neither this nor a late flurry was enough to save Selkirk as they limped to 93 and a heavy defeat by no fewer than 169 runs.St Boswells won by 169 runs.